Political Quotes

“For over the last decade, I have been working with a bipartisan group to deal with helping some of the foreign nationals in Afghanistan who helped Americans' mission be able to escape the tender mercies of the Taliban and others with long memories. These are men and women who helped us as guides, as translators, people who provided on-base security, construction workers, and truck drivers--a vast array of people who helped us with our vital mission. As we have scaled down and moved on, it has left these people vulnerable. We have example after example where the Taliban and al Qaeda have threatened them, have attacked their families, held them for ransom, tortured them, and, in some cases, killed them. We have implemented a Special Immigrant Visa program that has enabled over 8,500 people to get to safety to protect themselves and their families. I have witnessed some of these tearful reunions where a guide returned, was able to escape to the United States, and united with the person, the soldier, whose life he saved. This happens time after time. Unfortunately, the process is hopelessly tangled. It is slow, and it is bureaucratic. We have over 10,000 people still in the pipeline. Every year we struggle to be able to have sufficient visas authorized to be able to help thousands more who are at risk. We have the National Defense Authorization Act that is coming forward that would pose another problem to help those who put their faith in us.…”